Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A Hill or Two

So I spent my first “hill” workout with my running club. I place “hill” in quotes because it wasn’t as much a hill workout (power up and jog down multiple times) as it was a “hilly” workout. After a warm up, we did an 8 minute BTTW run through the hilly terrain in Shady Canyon. Not exactly my idea of fun, but neither is running to tell you the truth. I managed to cover a mile in the 8 minutes (well – okay 8:26). Final stats on the run – 5.5 miles at an average heart rate of 80% of max. I managed to max out my heart rate at 92% of max, and held it over 88% of max for almost seven minutes. A reasonable VO2Max workout for the first one in a while.

Today I get to introduce a few new resistance exercises after a short (emphasis on short) and easy (double emphasis on easy) three mile run. These stabilization exercises are in addition to the others I have been working on to strengthen and engage core muscles.

Single Leg Squat: This exercise is meant to engage the hip abductors to maintain stability when on one leg. Stand on one leg. Lower slowly toward the floor while maintaining balance. Go as low as possible without your butt swinging outward. Return to the start position. Repeat 8 to 10 times per leg.

Oblique Bridge: This exercise is a very standard one that most are familiar with. The purpose of this is to train muscles to maintain stability of the hip, pelvis and obliques. Lie on your side with ankles together and body propped up on your elbow. Raise your hips until not sagging. Hold for 20 seconds. Repeat for the other side.

Lying Draw-In with Hip Flexion: This will teach the lower abs to stabilize the pelvis during alternating leg movement (i.e., running). Lie on the floor with knees bent 90 degrees and thighs perpendicular to the floor. Draw your navel toward your spine to engage the lower abs. While holding this, lower your legs one at a time toward the floor. Repeat 8 to 10 times.

Quadruped (also known as the “Bird Dog”): This exercise teaches the deep abs to remain engaged when alternating limb movements. Kneel on all fours on the floor. Draw your navel toward your spine. While holding this contraction, extend your right leg and left arm without allowing your hips to rotate. If you don’t know how to keep your hips from rotating, place a broomstick or pool queue on your back. If your hips rotate, the broomstick will roll off. Hold for 10 seconds per side.

Hmm. If all these pictures are accurate, it seems like I’ve already dropped a couple dozen pounds and have lost all my gray hair!

14 comments:

Thanks for the first excerise depicted. I have not tried that one before - probably for good reason - I can't. :)

My Hill workouts are no different than your Trail runners. I have a series of short steep trails hills and then one straight up desert hill/mt climb as far as my calves can go. Then back down as fast as my quads can take. Or, before I tumble over head first back down. Then I loop back around and do it one more time for the love it (yeah right!). It is a total 5 miles of sheer calf and quad busting self torture.

Yay, you have my bff on your blog today!!! Well, my bfb (best friend book). I have to admit, I was skeptical of those exercises when I saw them but since I (finally) incorporated them into my training, they really do make a difference in my running efficiency and economy.

Your group sounds awesome!! Woohooo! I did some hill repeats yesterday, it felt good (though I'm still slow. errr).

i have a hard time believing that bird dogs will flatten my abs cause it just doesn't seem to work that area for me. i know, i know, i need to just do it. obviously i'm no exercise scientist, just check out my buddha belly :)